The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Gallery La Tour’.
The new Dahlia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lisse, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact container-type Dahlia cultivars that have a freely branching growth habit, early and freely flowering habit, decorative inflorescence form, attractive ray floret coloration, and good postproduction longevity and garden performance.
The new Dahlia originated from a cross-pollination in Lisse, The Netherlands during the summer of 2002 of the Dahlia hybrida cultivar Melody Harmony, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,423, as the female, or seed, parent with the Dahlia hybrida cultivar Gallery Salvador, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,501, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Dahlia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Lisse, The Netherlands during the summer of 2003.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia by cuttings since the spring of 2004 in a controlled environment in Lisse, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.